September 17, 2010

Blippy Extends Purchasing Play With Levels, Product Fans

I've long extolled the virtues of Blippy, the social network centered around your purchases - from iTunes, Amazon.com and Zappos to credit cards or debit cards you register with the site. If I can share a purchase, I will put it on Blippy, where I can exchange ideas on products I like (or despise) with friends and other consumers. In fact, I've gotten so connected to Blippy, I almost am disappointed when I pay cash or wish I could push big purchases (like the new house or new minivan) to the site. Part of the reason for the stickiness of the site? More and more features which make Blippy more interactive - including leveling up and the ability to become a fan of purchased products.

Elements of social gaming are everywhere in the most popular applications and networks. As was told to me by a peer at one meeting this week, "if you have five boxes to fill, people will want to fill those boxes." Today, when reviewing some recent purchases on Blippy, I found a new notification saying I had reached level twelve, and was only a few more reviews away from reaching level thirteen. So I wrote more reviews.

Transitioning from Level 12 to 13 on Blippy

Thus far, it's not clear what benefit one gets for "leveling up" on Blippy. There's no public leaderboard, and my level is not listed on my personal profile - although you can see a raw count of the number of purchases and reviews, which play into the level count. One assumes that the level may someday be public, and if they go the Foursquare route, maybe it turns into badges or something of that sort. Either way, it continues the progress of Blippy becoming a strong reviews site, and a way to collect unfiltered feedback on products of all sorts.

I am a Fan of Shazam on Blippy

Another way Blippy is tapping into popular activities from other top social networks is through the introduction of fanning products. Like you can become a fan of something on Facebook (though they now call those Likes), you can become a fan of any product or service on Blippy - from big companies like Apple to iTunes apps like Mint.com and Redfin and Netflix movies, such as Pulp Fiction.

A Recent Review of Mine on Blippy

The data flowing into Blippy is going to become increasingly valuable as more people register, share purchases and review items. A product's fan page shows how many registered people on Blippy use it, and what other items they may also have purchased. It's not improbable that Blippy could also show the aggregate amount spent on the network for specific products and show whether this is increasing or decreasing over time. (Think of how much money flows into AT&T from the thousands of Blippy users who pay each month)

Like other tangential social networks, including Cliqset, Blippy is becoming extremely feature-rich, and if you're not already using it, you're missing out. You can find me at http://blippy.com/louisgray.